About Us

Final Bow for Yellowface (www.yellowface.org) was founded by Georgina Pazcoguin, New York City Ballet soloist, and Phil Chan, arts administrator and educator, with a simple pledge, "I love ballet as an art form, and acknowledge that to achieve a diversity amongst our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff, I am committed to eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages." Since 2017, almost every major American ballet company has signed the pledge, and Gina and Phil have advised performing arts groups on how to maintain the integrity of works from the classical Western canon while updating outdated representations of Asians. Final Bow for Yellowface was cited in the Paris Opera’s diversity report as a contributing factor in their decision to eliminate blackface and yellowface from their stages. Gina and Phil have presented talks on yellowface and orientalism in dance at 92Y, the Guggenheim's Works & Process, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, the Museum at FIT, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), The Washington Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet School, as well as at higher educational institutions such as Berklee College, Columbia University, Drexel University, Goucher College, Harvard, NYU, Princeton, Purchase College, Stanford, UPenn, and Yale among others. Final Bow for Yellowface was named a Next 50 Arts Leader by the Kennedy Center.

Phil
Chan

Phil Chan is a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, and author of Final Bow for Yellowface: Dancing between Intention and Impact, and the President of the Gold Standard Arts Foundation. He is a graduate of Carleton College and an alumnus of the Ailey School. He has held fellowships with NYU, the Manhattan School of Music, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and is currently a fellow at Harvard University, Drexel University, and the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris. As a writer, he served as the Executive Editor for FLATT Magazine and contributed to Dance Europe Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Business Weekly, and the Huffington Post, and current serves on the Advisory Board of Dance Magazine. He served multiple years on the National Endowment for the Arts dance panel and the Jadin Wong Award panel presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance. His latest choreography project, the "Ballet des Porcelaines,” premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2021 and will tour throughout 2022. He is a Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor of Dance at Carleton College in Fall 2022, and was just named a Next 50 Arts Leader by the Kennedy Center.  

Georgina Pazcoguin (“The Rogue Ballerina”) is a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, and is a soloist with New York City Ballet. She is most recently featured on the hit show Fosse/Verdon 2019. She is also featured in the film NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ, which won the Audience Award at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival. Pazcoguin’s many NYCB credits include Anita in West Side Story. Her extensive repertory of George Balanchine works include lead roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3.

Her American Dance Machine for the 21st Century credits: Cassie in "A Chorus Line," Jerome Robbin's "Mr. Monotony," Margo Sappington's "Oh! Calcutta!" Pas de Duex

Broadway Credits: “Ivy” in 2014 Revival of On The Town. Georgina originated the role of “Victoria” the White Cat in the first revival of Cats on Broadway choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler in 2016. More info: GeorginaPazcoguin.com Instagram: @Georgina_Pazcoguin

Ms. Pazcoguin was a recipient of the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise in 2002. She is a two-time Chita Rivera Award nominee for outstanding dancer. She is the recipient of The 2019 Outstanding Filipinos in America Courage of Conviction Award.